Robotic intra-operative ultrasound has the potential to improve the conventional practice of diagnosis and procedure guidance that are currently performed manually. Working towards automatic or semi-automatic ultrasound, being able to define ultrasound views and the corresponding probe poses via intelligent approaches become crucial. Based on the concept of parallel system which incorporates the ingredients of artificial systems, computational experiments, and parallel execution, this paper utilized a recent developed robotic trans-esophageal ultrasound system as the study object to explore the method for developing the corresponding virtual environments and present the potential applications of such systems. The proposed virtual system includes the use of 3D slicer as the main workspace and graphic user interface (GUI), Matlab engine to provide robotic control algorithms and customized functions, and PLUS (Public software Library for UltraSound imaging research) toolkit to generate simulated ultrasound images. Detailed implementation methods were presented and the proposed features of the system were explained. Based on this virtual system, example uses and case studies were presented to demonstrate its capabilities when used together with the physical TEE robot. This includes standard view definition and customized view optimization for pre-planning and navigation, as well as robotic control algorithm evaluations to facilitate real-time automatic probe pose adjustments. To conclude, the proposed virtual system would be a powerful tool to facilitate the further developments and clinical uses of the robotic intra-operative ultrasound systems.

中文翻译：

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机器人术中超声：虚拟环境和并行系统


机器人术中超声有可能改善目前手动执行的传统诊断和手术指导实践。致力于自动或半自动超声，能够通过智能方法定义超声视图和相应的探头姿势变得至关重要。本文基于并行系统的概念，结合了人工系统、计算实验和并行执行的要素，以最近开发的机器人经食管超声系统为研究对象，探索了开发相应虚拟环境的方法，并提出了开发并行系统的方法。此类系统的潜在应用。所提出的虚拟系统包括使用3D切片机作为主要工作空间和图形用户界面（GUI），Matlab引擎提供机器人控制算法和定制功能，以及PLUS（超声成像研究公共软件库）工具包来生成模拟超声图像。提出了详细的实现方法并解释了系统的建议功能。基于该虚拟系统，提供了示例使用和案例研究，以展示其与物理 TEE 机器人一起使用时的功能。这包括用于预先规划和导航的标准视图定义和定制视图优化，以及机器人控制算法评估以促进实时自动探头姿态调整。总之，所提出的虚拟系统将成为促进机器人术中超声系统的进一步开发和临床使用的强大工具。